Taiwan hospital fire: At least nine dead in horror blaze after mega typhoon hits island

At least nine people have died after a mega typhoon triggered a devastating fire.

The blaze at a hospital killed at least nine people on Thursday morning as Typhoon Krathon continued to batter southern Taiwan. The fire occurred in Piingtung county, which has been one of the hardest hit regions from the typhoon and its knock-on weather effects. The slow-moving typhoon made landfall in the afternoon with torrential rains and heavy winds, and has brought parts of the island to a standstill.

The deaths were caused by smoke that arose from a source still under investigation, officials said, while dozens of other patients were evacuated and moved to shelters nearby. Soldiers from a nearby base were deployed to aid medical workers and firefighters in the evacuation of patients and putting out the flames.

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Weather-related events attributed to Krathon this week have injured at least 123 people around Taiwan, according to the national fire department. Two people have died - one 66-year-old who drove into fallen rocks on a road in the southeastern Taitung county, and the other, a 70-year-old, who died while trimming tree branches in the city of Hualien. Two others remained missing.

The storm has heaped strong winds and heavy rain on eastern and southern parts of the island over the past five days, forcing thousands to evacuate from mountainous or low-lying areas. Schools and government offices have been shut around the island for two days, and all domestic flights have been cancelled.

Many residents woke up this morning to mobile phone alerts urging them to take shelter from the potentially dangerous winds. The weather administration posted a Facebook message warning Kaohsiung and Pingtung County residents to not go outside during the eye of the storm, when the weather calms briefly, because the winds and storms will pick up again.

Thousands have also been evacuated from areas vulnerable to mudslides and landslides. Almost 40,000 troops remain on standby to help with rescue efforts. Mountainous areas in the island's south have seen up to 5.5 feet of rain over the past five days. China's weather agency said some eastern and southern parts of Taiwan are set to see extremely heavy rains of up to 40 centimetres (1.3 feet) over the next 24 hours.

Typhoons are rare on Taiwan's populous west coast, and usually affect the the mountainous, eastern side of the island. Earlier in the week, Typhoon Krathon lashed northern Philippine islands, killing four people and displacing at least 5,000, officials said.